Kato Shihan Course and Grading - York

I always say, "What a brilliant Course", but this weekend surpassed many others. Between the three clubs, Haxby, Selby and York we had 43 students grading and had about 60 karateka attending the training course.

A few quick thank yous, firstly Sensei, thank you again for visiting York and passing on a little of your knowledge.

Sensei Paul (from the Whitchurch mafia) for teaching at Haxby on Thursday night and entertaining us on the course and Saturday night.

Shihan Keith and Sensei Mike for supporting the course and grading, a special mention for Sensei Ian Shaw without whom these weekends would not take place.

Sensei Melina from Bulgaria, as Sensei's uke and our teacher of Heian Yondan.

To our visiting Karateka from other asscociations and Jordon who travelled 200 miles to train with sensei.

Last but not least thank you to all our karateka, especially our junior members, we had quite a few 6 to 8 year olds grading for the first time, you were all very well behaved.

Above: The Course Photo

If you trained this weekend you will know what a great course it was. Please pass this on to your fellow karateka who missed out. We are so fortunate to have Sensei teach, three or four times a year and every effort should be made to train whether grading or not.

Above: Kihon Training

The lower grades are partnered with the higher grades, Sensei casts a critical eye across the class. It is amazing how you loose any ability to tell left from right when Sensei is standing close to you.

Above: Sensei Kato - food with friends

There is a time for training and a time for socialising, a bite to eat and a few beers......and a few beers more........

Above: Sensei Paul enjoyed a good night out!

Following demonstrations of ushiro geri in the pub to the delight of a captive audience and the dismay of some OAP's trying to eat their lunch, Sensei Paul kept up his light hearted instruction well into the evening.......not sure why he didn't make training on the Sunday? Sensei I hope we made you feel welcome, please come back soon.

At Haxby on Thursday there were a few of us from Selby, the like of Claire, Emma and Phoebe had never seen this style of teaching before...I think you have a fan club in Yorkshire Sensei Paul.

Above: Haxby Karateka Belt training

Sensei had the belts off for this part of the session, with the youngsters it was a little more timid than usual. I had a little trouble with the drop down and mawashi geri jodan from the crouched position. No standing up first...direct route...No Scotland...York...London...direct express!

Above: Sensei Kato - attacking with the heel

Sensei instruction included the importance of correct path for the attack and using all parts of the body / foot to attack. Heel, sole of the foot, ball.....

Above: Sensei Kato - Usherio Mawashi-geri

Above: Sensei kato blocks befor Yoko Geri

Many students tried to short cut yoko geri, this MUST follow the correct route, knee up to the front and thrust to target.

Above: Yoko geri attack

Above: Emma - Yoko Empi

Emma demonstrates Zanshin with her attack during her kihon combination

Above: Claire during Kumite Exam

Claire puts an awkward karateka in his place during the kumite phase

Above: Josh attacks Simon from Haxby club

Josh, what can I say! Josh came a very close second in the Trevor Jinks cup last year, and wow did you prove us right in ackowledging your commitment. We have seen such a marked improvement in the past 6 months, unbelievable.

Josh was partnered with Simon from Haxby who came away with a commended pass from Sensei Kato, a real achievement. I am sure that Simon helped to lift Josh's game.

I was so proud of Josh, during his kata exam he made a mistake and frooze right in front of the grading desk with Kato Shihan 8th Dan IJKA World Chief instructor looking over the top of his glasses at him......

Josh took one step back ..rei.. and said "can I start again please Sensei"...Sensei nodded...

Josh took 3 or 4 paces back... rei and then performed Heian Godan as strong and as well as I have ever seen him perform it before..

Not taking anything away from Josh, but my thanks also to Sensei Andy Denby your work with our students over the last few months was evident in their gradings, Osu!

Above: Dom and Dan

Dom progressed to temp 1st kyu and Dan and Sam had theit temp 3rd Kyu removed and became full 3rd kyu. This is a half grade for all three of you but let me put this in perspective.

Dom has progressed to his current grade in record time, I think he has never missed a grading. Rebecca has trained since she was five, she had a couple of years off, so lets say she has trained for eight years to reach 1st Kyu and you have reached 1st Kyu in less than half of that time, this is achievement indeed.

Dan and Sam, at twelve and just turned eleven you have both now completed all your junior grades and have completed seven adult gradings. You are both well on the way to adult Shodan in your early teens.

Enjoy your time as a brown belt, these are good times, relax and broarden your foundations, most importantly enjoy your karate. Think ahead to B&B belt training at Whitchurch and may be a competition later in the year.

Above: Georgia and Kato Shihan

Shihan had a special mention for Simon from Haxby and Georgia and Michael from Selby, all had strong gradings.

Sensei's general comments on the whole of the gradings was that some elements of kata were poor...stances were not as strong as they should be. We must all try hard and strive to maintain the high standards of the IJKA.

Above: Sensei Mike,Melina and Shihan Keith

The above photo was spoilt by the two old grey haired blokes, but I thought I would post it anyway....more press-ups for me next week I think?

Above: SSKC Karateka with Sensei Kato

Selby had twenty two students grade, nineteen to full grade and three temporary passes, an excellent result considering the limited preparation because of Christmas and the early date of the course, well done to you all.Osu!

The Table of kyu grades has been updated in the sidebar, just click on your name to go to your individual member page. Please check that the link and post is correct, please e mail me with any up-dates.

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York Shotokan Karate Club - Web site

Just to let you all know York club has at last got its new web site up and running. I have updated the link in the sidebar, but be sure to add it to your favourites, http://www.yorkkarateclub.co.uk/

There is still a few pages to complete so make sure that you make regular visits.

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Can we do some Kumite Sensei?

It is always nice to recieve feedback from students and requests for what they would like to work on.
But, how do you develop a karateka in kumite, when do you start and with what type?
Karate is a balance of Kihon, Kata and Kumite, but many students feel that they are being held back unduly in kumite.
Every association and indeed club will have a differing viewpoint, but here is ours.

Types
Kumite can be broken down into the following:
Basic Kumite - Gohon, Sambon and Ippon Kumite (5, 3 & 1 Step)
Jiyu ippon Kumite - Semi free
Jiyu Kumite - free

We will start beginners on attacks and defence in the standing position. We also have karateka in pairs just stepping forward backwards and to the sides just maintaining kamae and maai (no attacking). We develop to "knee boxing" where karateka score points by touching the knee of the opponent, from a scramble for a young beginner this can be very tactical for the experienced karateka developing tai-sabaki.

Above: Static Attack and defence

The Karateka is practiced in Gohon, or so he/she thinks and want to progress straight to Jiyu, where the excitement is.

Above: Even in Gohon kumite you don't know who you might come up against!

Different types of kumite develop different skills, in Gohan the maai is set, in Jiyu Ippon from Kamae, maai is an optional distance. Jiyu ipppon is a massive step up from basic, Jiyu Ippon is the first introduction to "jissen" actual fighting. You announce the area that you are aiming and the attacker attacks decisively. The defender is free to use any technique to block and counter. The purpose is to put into practice techniques of offence and defence.
When training with either Gullen or Kato Shihan with senior grades much time is spent on Jiyu Ippon. Kato Shihan recently said to us in whitchurch, " This is Jiyu Ippon not Jiyu wazari, you must attack, you must score.... target, target".

I am sure Jiyu Ippon means that the karateka attacks with a single technique, but what Shihan was trying to instil into us is this is Jissen actual fighting. It requires Zanshin, spirit and commitment. The attacker can make use of feints and changes in advancing techniques, not just a straightforward Oi-Zuki. The blocker can advance, retreat or tai-sabaki, shifting the centre of gravity, blocking-finishing in one breath.

I was reading Yahara Shihan interview in this months SKM he talks about trying to survive Yano Sensei, he had to learn good tai-sabaki. Yahara Sensei studied the method of movement of the late Asai Sensei who used special evasion methods that he learnt in Taiwan while studying Chinese wushu.

The feeling of Jiyu Ippon should be if after attacking, the attacker continues to attack or turns the blockers counter against him this would become jiyu kumite. For this reason Jiyu Ippon requires great skill and is not recommended for beginners whose techniques will be poor and ineffective under pressure. For the more experienced karateka it will develop true sight and the sixth sense of attack and defence.

When grading for Shodan I was disappointed that after my Jiyu Ippon that I only had about 30 seconds of Jiyu kumite, but now I realise that I have still to develop before I am really ready for Jiyu Kumite.

Gullen Shihan starts high Kyu grades in Jiyu Ippon in a relaxed manner but requires a simple defense sliding back and block and counter age-uke or soto-uke. An excellent grounding, what this does is gives the defender maximum time to react to the attack. It dosen't matter if the attacker changes side, half steps first or slides in, the basic blocks work giving you not quite all the time in the world, but a lot more time than having to worry about having a certain foot forward for the technique to work. This is then developed into speed and power with Zanshin for brown belts, but still just the basic block....don't get ahead of yourself yet.

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Kato Shihan's Christmas Course

Above: "Hammer" from IJKA Ireland grades for Shodan

Above: Sensei Sharad Karai, Gen. Secretary IJKA England

Our congratulations go to "Hammer" from Ireland, a well deserved Shodan. Sophie one of Sensei Sharad's students also attempted Shodan and has been invited by Shihan to re-grade in three months time.

The Shodan grading was both physically and mentally demanding. Shihan does not have a set grading syllabus, you can not practice your grading over and over before hand. In Kihon you are asked to undertake 6 to 8 move combinations moving forward, backwards and using multiple stances within the same combination.

Shihan Kato will explain the combination, you get to practice 2 or 3 times and then you execute the sequence with speed, power and Zanshin. Forget the combination, lack good technique, speed, power or Zanshin and you will be marked down.

A couple of weeks ago a black belt from a different association came to watch at York club with a view to training the following week. Shihan Gullen was teaching the beginners and I was taking the Purple belts. We happened to be going through combinations, we were practising some of the Shodan combinations Sensei had used for the Dan gradings in Budapest (where I believe only about 4 out of 18 students passed!) Shihan Gullen spoke to the student afterwards and asked him what he taught of our training. He informed Shihan that they didn't do it like that at his club and was concerned that it would confuse him. Unfortunately we have not seen him since.

I strongly believe that Shihan is looking to see enough in any student to pass them, he is not there to invite you back at a later date. However Shihan must maintain a standard and that standard needs to be the same throughout the Association whether in the UK , Russia or anywhere else in the world.

When you present yourself for your Shodan grading prepare to be pushed to your limits and beyond, at this point you will no longer have good technique, speed or power but you must still have Zanshin!

Shihan many thanks for the brilliant course, the hospitality of your home and the opportunity to meet with all our friends again, Merry Christmas, Osu!

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Well done Conner, Georgia and Michael

Tonight Conner from the York Dojo , Georgia and Michael Denby were graded from 9th Kyu to 8th Kyu by Gullen Shihan 7th Dan , congratulations to you all. You can read Georgia and Michael's member page by clicking on their name in the side bar in the table of Kyu grades.
Also welcome to Charlie, Elizabeth, Robert, Leila and Michael who came down for the first time tonight.
Back to normal training next week and a bit of practice for the Christmas display/party on the 16th December.

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Bassai Dai / Bassai Sho

Gullen Sensei has been trying to introduce me to Bassai Sho over the last few weeks, but it just didn't seem to be going in. Some katas I seem to pick up reasonably quickly , but Bassai Sho is not going to be one of them. I would prefer to concentrate on Basai Dia, Jion and Kanu Dai but Sensei had other ideas.

The other Thursday night Sensei Mike Gude decided to do Bassai dai with the Brown belts and then went onto Bassai Sho.

While if I can't beat them I thought I must try and make some sort of attempt to get my head round the kata.

On Sunday I asked Sensei Andy Denby if he would take us through the kata and the sequence of moves is almost there.

Nakayama Sensei stated "Bassai Sho should be practiced after mastering Bassai Dai...Bassai Dai outwardly showing power and Bassai Sho an inner strength. While if I wait until I have mastered Bassai Dai I will never start, will I?

It seems a big step to Shodan, no longer am I trying to improve on previous kata and learn a new one, suddenly there are lots of kata to learn and in no particular fixed order.

Thank you to all my Sensei for your patience, i'll just keep trying.

Looking forward to Kato Shihan's course at the weekend.

Osu!

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June 2007 - York Course and Grading - Kato Shihan 8th Dan IJKA

Above: Kato Shihan instructs, Gullen Shihan 6th Dan IJKA in defence against mutiple attackers, there is something quite refreshing at seeing our senior grades getting shouted at. On a more serious note it is great to see our senior instructors still striving forward on "the way".

Sensei Billy Thomson IJKA Scotland, spoke to all Dan grades a few months ago about the importance of continuing to review our own and each others performance so that we can all improve, his message being strongly directed to 4th Dans and above. This continuing ambition of improvement is a Major strength of our association.

The details of Sensei's course and grading is as follows:

Saturday 16th June at Wiggington Recreation Hall, Wiggington , York. 1.30pm for 2pm to 4pm, All grades Training only.

Sunday 17th June at Wiggington Recreation Hall, Wiggington, York 9.30am for 10am to 1pm. All grades training and grading.

Training Fees :- £18 one day or two days, its the same price so get along to both days if you can.

Grading Fees: 9th Kyu to 1st Kyu £10 and for Pee Wee grades £6.

Don't forget if your grading you must come and train and the fee is £28 or £24 for training and grading. We wish all of the York District Karateka good luck and keep up our high standards.

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Gullen Shihan Happy Birthday

Gullen Shihan hits the big 60!
Keith Gullen has been the Senior instructor for Northern England in the IJKA for quite a few years now.
He runs his own club in the centre of York and also attends both Haxby and Selby clubs teaching Shotokan Karate.
Congratulations Sensei
Osu!

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